Canada

Canada's largest Catholic shrine dedicated to Saint Joseph on the northwestern slope of Mount Royal, begun as a small wooden chapel in 1904 by Saint André Bessette. The crypt church was completed in 1917, the basilica foundation stone was laid in 1924, the interior was finished in 1967, and its 97-meter dome makes it the tallest church in Canada.

Minor Basilica (1955), National Historic Site of Canada (2004), within the Site patrimonial du Mont-Royal (Québec, 2005)3800 Chemin Queen-Mary, Montréal, QC H3V 1H6

Photo: shankar s. from Dubai, united arab emirates, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

A Gothic Revival minor basilica facing Place d'Armes in Old Montreal, built between 1824 and 1829 to the designs of architect James O'Donnell with twin 69-meter bell towers housing the nearly 11-ton Jean-Baptiste bourdon bell, celebrated for its midnight-blue vaulted ceiling studded with thousands of 24-karat gold stars by Victor Bourgeau (1872-1880) and its 7,000-pipe Casavant organ.

National Historic Site of Canada (1989) & Minor Basilica (1982)110 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest, Quảng trường Place d'Armes, Phố cổ Montréal, Tỉnh Québec, Canada

Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The Primatial Cathedral of Canada in Old Quebec, built in stone in 1647 following Samuel de Champlain's 1633 chapel and elevated in 1674 as the first episcopal see in North America north of Mexico under Saint François de Laval, renowned for the Baillairgé family's gilded baldaquin, the crypt of four Governors of New France, and the first Holy Door outside Europe (2013).

UNESCO World Heritage Site (1985) & National Historic Site of Canada (1989)16 Rue de Buade, Khu Phố cổ Thượng (Haute-Ville), Thành phố Québec, Tỉnh Québec, Canada

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The oldest Catholic pilgrimage sanctuary in North America north of Mexico on the Saint Lawrence River (founded in 1658 when builder Louis Guimont was miraculously healed), rebuilt in white granite between 1923 and 1946 in Neo-Romanesque-Gothic style, renowned for the forearm relic of Saint Anne and the entrance pillars covered with hundreds of crutches left by healed pilgrims.

National Shrine of Canada & Minor Basilica (1887)10018 Avenue Royale, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, Bờ Bắc sông Saint Lawrence, Tỉnh Québec, Canada

Photo: Hayden Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

Canada's largest traditional Hindu temple complex spanning 7.3 hectares in Etobicoke, Toronto, inaugurated on July 22, 2007 by Pramukh Swami Maharaj and assembled without structural steel from 24,000 hand-carved interlocking blocks of Italian Carrara marble, Turkish limestone, and Indian pink stone sculpted by 1,500 artisans, joined by a carved Burmese teakwood Haveli and the Heritage Museum.

Toronto Architectural Heritage Landmark & Largest Traditional Hindu Mandir in Canada61 Claireville Drive, Quận Etobicoke, Thành phố Toronto, Tỉnh Ontario, Canada

Photo: Work for hire; Copyright held by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (web: www.baps.org, e, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

A Catholic National Shrine on a hill overlooking the reconstructed seventeenth-century Jesuit mission of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons and the Wye River in Midland, Ontario, consecrated in 1926 with an inverted-canoe cedar timber interior housing the skull relic of Saint Jean de Brebeuf and relics of Saints Gabriel Lalemant and Charles Garnier.

National Shrine of Canada (Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops) and Historic Jesuit Pilgrimage Sanctuary in Huronia16163 Highway 12 West, Midland, Ontario, L4R 4K6, Canada

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The oldest surviving Catholic cathedral in Toronto and mother church of Canada's largest English-speaking archdiocese, designed by architect William Thomas in 1845 to 1848 in fourteenth-century English Decorated Gothic Revival style using cream-colored Don Valley brick, featuring a 79-meter spire, Etienne Thevenot's 1858 stained-glass window, and the crypt tomb of founding Bishop Michael Power.

Papal Minor Basilica (elevated by Pope Francis on September 29, 2016) and Ontario Heritage Act Designated Monument (1975)200 Church Street (Chancery at 65 Bond Street), Garden District, Toronto, Ontario, M5B 1Z2, Canada

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The metropolitan cathedral of the Archdiocese of Montreal, built between 1870 and 1894 at the initiative of Bishop Ignace Bourget by Father Joseph Michaud CSV and architect Victor Bourgeau as a one-quarter-to-one-third scale replica of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, crowned by a 77-meter green copper dome, 13 patron saint statues on its roofline, and a 1900 copper-and-gold replica of Bernini's Baldacchino.

National Historic Site of Canada (2000) and Papal Minor Basilica (elevated by Pope Benedict XV in 1919)1085 Rue de la Cathedrale (facing Place du Canada and Boulevard Rene-Levesque), Montreal, Quebec, H3B 2V3, Canada

Photo: Mary Mark Ockerbloom, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The oldest and largest standing church in Canada's capital city of Ottawa on ceremonial Sussex Drive, built between 1841 and 1858 with twin 55-meter bell towers clad in gleaming French-Canadian tinplate and a resplendent 1876 to 1885 Neo-Gothic polychrome interior by Canon Georges Bouillon featuring over 30 carved wooden statues by Louis-Philippe Hebert.

National Historic Site of Canada (1990) and Papal Minor Basilica (elevated by Pope Leo XIII in 1879)385 Sussex Drive (opposite the National Gallery of Canada), Lowertown, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 1J9, Canada

Photo: Michel Rathwell from Cornwall, Canada, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto and the city's oldest congregation founded in 1797 in the town of York, rebuilt in 1850 to 1853 after the Great Fire of 1849 to designs by Frederick William Cumberland and Thomas Ridout in Ohio buff brick, crowned in 1874 by Canada's tallest church spire at 92.9 meters (305 feet) housing North America's first full peal of 12 Whitechapel change-ringing bells.

Ontario Heritage Act and City of Toronto Designated Heritage Property (1973, 1983); Tallest Church Spire in Canada (92.9 meters)106 King Street East (Northeast corner of King Street East and Church Street), Old Town, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2E9, Canada

Photo: Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The sacred natural sanctuary of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Niitsitapi) along the sandstone hoodoo cliffs of the Milk River valley facing the Sweetgrass Hills in southern Alberta, preserving the largest concentration of Indigenous petroglyphs and pictographs on the North American Great Plains and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

UNESCO World Heritage Site (Writing-on-Stone / Aisinai'pi, 2019, Ref. 1597) and National Historic Site of Canada (2004)Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, Range Road 130A (Milk River Valley), County of Warner No. 5, near Milk River, Alberta, T0K 1M0, Canada

Photo: Lucy Rowed, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

One of the largest Sikh gurdwaras in North America, inaugurated in December 1998 in the Newton district of Surrey, British Columbia, renowned for its white lotus domes, its daily free communal Langar kitchen, and its role as organizer of the Surrey Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan parade drawing over half a million attendees each April.

One of the Largest Sikh Gurdwaras in North America and Host of the World's Largest Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan Outside India12885 85 Avenue, Newton, Surrey, Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, V3W 0K8, Canada

Photo: Harpreet Sandhu, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

The historic mother congregation of Sikhism in North America, founded in Vancouver in 1906 by Punjabi pioneers (central to the 1914 Komagata Maru relief effort and the 1947 victory for South Asian voting rights), housed since 1970 in a landmark white concrete modernist Gurdwara at 8000 Ross Street designed by renowned Canadian architect Arthur Erickson.

First Sikh Society in North America (Founded 1906, National Historic Event of Canada) and Landmark Modernist Edifice by Architect Arthur Erickson (1970)8000 Ross Street (at Southeast Marine Drive and 64th Avenue), Sunset Neighborhood, South Vancouver, British Columbia, V5X 4C5, Canada

Photo: The Province (newspaper), Phạm vi công cộng, Wikimedia Commons

The oldest Jewish congregation in Toronto and Upper Canada, founded in 1856 after receiving a Torah scroll from Sir Moses Montefiore in London and housed since 1938 in a landmark Romanesque-Byzantine and Art Moderne exposed concrete sanctuary at 1950 Bathurst Street.

Oldest Jewish Congregation in Toronto and Upper Canada (founded 1856) and Designated Heritage Property of the City of Toronto1950 Bathurst Street, Forest Hill North and Cedarvale, Toronto, Ontario, M5P 3K9, Canada

Photo: SimonP, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

The first purpose-built mosque in Canada, dedicated on December 12, 1938 in Edmonton, Alberta through the fundraising campaign led by Lebanese-Canadian pioneer Hilwie Hamdon with donations from Muslims, Christians, and Jews, built by Ukrainian-Canadian carpenter Mike Drewoth, and preserved today at Fort Edmonton Park alongside the contemporary Al-Rashid Islamic Centre.

First Purpose-Built Mosque in Canada (dedicated December 12, 1938) and Preserved Historic Monument at Fort Edmonton ParkHistoric 1938 Mosque at Fort Edmonton Park (7000 143 Street NW) and Contemporary Al-Rashid Mosque at 13070 113 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Photo: reneaube, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

A Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monastic sanctuary in Mississauga within the Greater Toronto Area uniting the dual dharma names Tu An (Gratitude for the Four Heavy Debts of Grace) and Dai Bi Karam (Monastery of Great Compassion), dedicated to Sakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva.

Representative Vietnamese Mahayana, Pure Land, and Great Compassion Mantra Practice Sanctuary in Mississauga and OntarioMississauga and Greater Toronto Area (GTA) Vietnamese Buddhist Corridor, connected with Tu An Ontario Monastic Network, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

The largest Vietnamese Buddhist cultural center in Mississauga and the western Greater Toronto Area, established between 2000 and 2002 at 420 Traders Boulevard East under the leadership of Most Venerable Thich Tam Hoa, housing a grand main shrine hall, a weekend Vietnamese heritage school, and an active Buddhist Youth Family chapter.

Premier Vietnamese Buddhist Cultural Center in Mississauga and the Western Greater Toronto Area (GTA)420 Traders Boulevard East, Mississauga, Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, L4Z 1W7, Canada

Photo: Ian Muttoo from Mississauga, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The largest Vietnamese Buddhist monastic estate in Canada, spanning 337 acres of pine forest and lakes beside the Riviere-Rouge in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec, founded in September 1988 by Most Venerable Thich Thien Nghi and renowned for its Hall of a Thousand Buddhas and monumental outdoor recreations of the Four Sacred Buddhist Pilgrimage Sites (Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagar).

Largest Vietnamese Buddhist Forest Monastery in Canada (337 acres in the Laurentian Mountains of Quebec)690 Chemin de la Rivière-Rouge, Harrington, Argenteuil Regional County Municipality, Laurentides, Quebec, J8G 2S7, Canada

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The premier Vietnamese Buddhist monastery and Dharma education center in Western Canada, founded in June 1989 in Edmonton, Alberta by Most Venerable Thich Thien Tam, inaugurated at its traditional two-story temple complex on 97 Street NW in June 1997, and led since 2006 by Abbot Venerable Thich Phap Hoa alongside its sister retreat sanctuary, the Westlock Meditation Centre.

Premier Vietnamese Buddhist Monastery and Global Dharma Center in Western Canada (Edmonton, Alberta)11328 97 Street NW, Edmonton, Alberta, T5G 1X4, Canada (affiliated with Westlock Meditation Centre)

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The principal Vietnamese Roman Catholic parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto, worshiping inside historic St. Cecilia's Church (a red-brick Edwardian Gothic Revival sanctuary designed in 1912 by architect Arthur William Holmes at 161-163 Annette Street in The Junction) and dedicated to the 117 Vietnamese Martyrs canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.

Premier Vietnamese Catholic Parish in the Archdiocese of Toronto (Historic 1912 St. Cecilia's Church)161 Annette Street (St. Cecilia's Church at 163 Annette Street, corner of Pacific Avenue), The Junction and High Park North, Toronto, Ontario, M6P 1P5, Canada

Photo: SimonP, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons